Hazard Analysis

Occupational Health and Safety Management System

According to Hughes and Ferrett, (2010), effective occupational health and health safety policies are critical to every employee especially in the mining industry where the number of risks and hazards is growing by each day. Occupational Health and Safety Management System seeks to put the well-being and safety of the employees at the top of every company’s agenda with its implementation. SCX as a company firmly believes that OHSAS is a fundamental part of the entire process of risk management strategy. This system has been overly important in the management of the employees’ operational health and the safety risks which has in turn helped in the improvement of performance. The following are the key areas addressed by the regulations and provisions of OHSAS.

· Identification of hazards, their assessment and determination of controls,

· Legal requirements,

· Operational control,

· Programs and objectives of OHS,

· Training, competence and awareness,

· Responsibility training, accountability, roles and authority,

· Emergency preparedness and response,

· Communication, participation and consultation.

Health and Safety Policy

SCX Mining Corporation and its entire fraternity are all held responsible for full compliance with the required standards. They are expected to adhere to the Health and Safety Program incidents investigations as well as worksite inspections. The company on its part through the management is the provision and maintenance of a healthy and safe work atmosphere.

Responsibility and Authority

The management team carries the authority of the corporation and as such it is expected to provide active leadership at all times. The management is charged with the responsibility of giving to total support for occupational, fire protection, health and loss control. The managerial responsibilities and objectives are to be achieved through the following:

· Meaningful participation and involvement of all employees,

· Provision of appropriate and safe equipment necessary for optimal execution of the assigned duties,

· Every employee reserves the right to refuse performing an activity deemed unsafe and dangerous,

· Proper training and refresher courses necessary for the employees to carry out their work,

· Proper investigation of the possible causes of incidents and accidents and steering the development of immediate and effective remedial and preventive measures,

· Monitoring, reporting and evaluation of the Health and Safety performance.

Employee Participation

All employees have the ultimate responsibility of being in charge of their safety simply by complying with the necessary legislations and company industry guidelines. SCX Corporation is committed towards the achievement of the set accident/incident prevention objectives. This is to be achieved through the establishment, practice and preservation of the highest possible health and Safety standards. The corporation believes in motivating its employees in working towards the achievement of the goals by exceeding the expectations of any applicable law in the industry. The main target of the company is to have a 0% rate of lost time accidents and attain superior occupational and safety health management. The success of the safety and loss prevention program is largely dependent on the active and effective participation and dedication on the side of the staff by embracing teamwork and attaining a sense of organizational direction.

The employees are thus required to participate in training programs geared towards the sharpening and the reawakening of their skills in the respective skills of their specialization. At all times, the company ensures that every staff member is armed with the skills and knowledge necessary for them to perform their tasks and fulfill their responsibilities in an enabling and facilitative environment.

Review Process, Assessment, and Prioritization

The review process of the company is targeted towards increasing the efficiency of corporate governance as well as expanding the corporate design commitments. It is also dedicated in ensuring that the professional engineering practices and eventually strengthening the regulatory operations. The assessment of the corporation’s current technology is also a step that will facilitate the implementation of the best available technology which will go hand in hand with the best available practices. These include the use of filtering tailings technology in the areas that it will be most appropriate and productive. Notably, the prevailing circumstances in each of the production scenarios are the one that determines the type of technology that is suitable. This means that the company has to enhance validation of safety regulations in all the phases of the tailings storage facility (TSF).

Risk Assessment

In this perspective, risk assessment is both a tool used for design and ranking of the potential risks during the entire lifetime of gas and other mining pipeline facilities. Assessment helps in the prioritization of the operational efforts with a view of reducing the incidents of leakages (Koradecka, 2010). It is also an essential tool utilized in emergency planning and guides the decision making process. The following is a brief discussion of the main risk assessment steps.

1. Identifying potential causes of failure

This helps in identifying potential failure causes in the natural gas pipeline facility or system.

2. Estimation of the failure frequencies

The use of the historical accident data as the basis for estimating the generic failure frequencies adjusted for the particular features of the proposed system. Failure frequencies in SCP pipelines are based on those that have been reported by the European Gas Incident Data Group (EGIG). These have been compared with other data sources for instance from the US Department of Transport (DoT) and Europe’s UK Onshore Pipeline Operators Association (UKOPA). The data by UKOPA demonstrates a lower frequency of failure especially the raptures as compared with the EGIG data. This is a reflection of the fact that the pipelines in the UK are based on the latest and modern design codes as compared to those which are reported by EGIG.

3. Identification of the potential release modes

The release modes are distinguished by the whole size that is caused by the failure. For example, small holes are characterized by relatively low leaks release rates accompanied by limited distance.

4. Estimate release frequencies

This step also makes use of the historical failure data to estimate the rate of the generic frequency releases as well as the project-specific data that is used in adjusting the frequencies. This entails taking an account of the total reduction in major rupture frequencies. This could be as a result of increased thickness of the pipeline wall, lower design and deep burial.

5. Assess release consequences

The calculation of the potential consequences of the various types of releases is calculated using the established software models.

6. Calculation of the risk to the public

A hypothetical individual base case being present at the scene 24 hours and 365 days a year is sued in the estimation of the risk to the public. In this case, the risk is taken to mean the individual risk of fatality in a single year from the pipeline at a given distance. The calculation of the risk is inclusive of the steps like the likelihood of an ignition.

Hierarchy of Controls

The possibility of accidents associated with development and implementation is generally low, in regard with the design, control and operating measures adopted by SCX. These measures are meant to be preventive in nature. This preliminary hazard assessment is undertaken with the aim of identifying and assessing the key risks of each and every component of the mining project. The audit seeks to look and implement plans for emergency response as well as procedures for hazardous events and accidents. Other safety measures include periodic refresher and induction training for all the employees on the aspects of the site-specific by-laws and safety concerns.

Risk identification and analysis

The identification of the hazard was based on the gained experience gathered by the entire project team in the operation and development of other similar projects with the same social and environmental settings. Qualitative risk analysis is based on Standards Australia HB 203-2004 and it takes into account both the consequence and likelihood of the various consequences. There are four main categories of risks as outlined below.

Extreme – strategies development aimed at reducing and mitigating the risk of the level is the highest priority.

High – management attention is directed towards developing strategies which are still required.

Medium – The responsibility of the management has to be specified

Low – The risks fall within the criteria of the normal project parameters, which can be managed by the help of the routinely carried out processes and procedures.

Risk Evaluation

SCX is a company that specializes in various mining processes. As such, there are several risks that the company and the employees are exposed to. Mining and ore processing procedures including the handling and storage of the flammable substances can lead to generation of the potentially explosive gas emissions (Albrechtsen & Besnard, 2013). Examples of the flammable substances could be those that are involved in the process of solvent extraction, which have possible risks of exploding. A case in point is where the company suffered a loss resulting from a serious gas transmission that eventually resulted in a fire. There have been several incidents in the past that warrants the company’s investment in risk analysis and evaluation with the aim of identifying concrete preventive measures and policies.

Causes of the incidents of serious gas transmissions

· External interference where illegal hot tapping is the most commonly cited example or damages associated with war or terror,

· Rupture of pipelines as a result of natural hazards,

· Construction of the pipelines close to live SCP, WREP and BTC lines.

Design Review

The design route follows that of the major SCP and BTC pipelines. This system generally tries as much as possible to avoid interference of the existing local infrastructure development. The location of the route and block stations (BVR) in a station where they can freely share the available utilities with the existing SCP and BTC BVRs. At the same, this allows sufficient distance between the SCPX BVRs and the SCP BTC BRVs and enough separation from the already existing pipelines. In the end, this serves to minimize the likelihood of deterioration in the event of an accident.

Management of Change

There are several alternatives which have been considered for use in the management of the possible controls. The following is a brief overview of some of these control measures.

· Using pipes that have electronic detection systems for continuous monitoring of the pipeline parameters,

· Regular inspection and maintenance of the pipeline system,

· Advising the local residents to avoid activities that might threaten their safety and integrity of the pipelines,

· Operating the pipelines and facilities should be operated in the right and recommended conditions,

· Maintaining liaison with local land owners so that they readily inform the relevant authorities of any third party construction activities that might threaten the safety of the pipes,

· Before the onset of the project, the landowners should be informed of any reuse restrictions attached to their land so that they know well what they are getting into,

· Close monitoring of the areas with a lot of geotechnical instability and potential for erosion and

· Organized patrol of the 56*-diameter pipeline when it is in operation.

Procurement

Research by Pasman (2015) shows that operational control and project design measures target at the reduction of the general probability and impacts of major accidents. The company will take a remedial action of buying supplies that are not defective and those with the required safety standards for optimal functioning. The project also necessitates the purchase of safety equipment that will boost the safety of the workers thus motivating them to work even harder in an enabling environment.

Monitoring and Measurement

All the recommended steps and measures will be monitored and measured to ensure that they are yielding the expected results. All the available resources and facilities will as well be used accordingly to ensure that are no cases of unexpected accidents while ensuring that every employee is keen towards the achievement of the set objectives.

References

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Albrechtsen, E., & Besnard, D. (2013). Oil and gas, technology and humans: Assessing the human factors of technological change. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate.

Hughes, P. & Ferrett, E. (2010). Introduction to international health and safety at work the handbook for the NEBOSH international general certificate. Oxford Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann

Koradecka, D. (2010). Handbook of occupational safety and health. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis.

Pasman, H. J. (2015). Risk analysis and control for industrial processes - gas, oil and chemicals: A system perspective for assessing and avoiding low-probability, high-consequence events.

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